18 weeks

How far along? 18 weeks

Baby’s Size: 5 and a half inches

Baby’s Weight: 5 ounces

Development: Baby is now mastering hiccuping and yawning (but I can't feel this yet!) and now has his or own fingerprints.

Weight gain/loss: I am still down 4 pounds from pre-pregnancy.

Maternity clothes?  Yep!

Sleep: Eh, I haven't really ever been a good sleeper, but I did wake up at 3 am this morning because I was starving!

Best moment this week?  I finally figured out what the nursery will be if it is a boy.

Symptoms: Not really much besides an expanding belly.

Labor signs?: No!

Movement?: Nope.  The midwives think I have an anterior placenta (meaning it is in the front), so they think that my feeling of movement might be delayed.

Belly button in or out?:  Still in.  However, I have always had a very deep belly button (I could fit pretty much my whole pinky finger in there!)  Chris commented this week that he can actually see the end of my belly button now!  Haha!

What I miss: Sushi and rare steak

Food cravings/aversions: Sweets: butterfingers, root beer floats, & oreos

What I'm looking forward to:  The anatomy scan tomorrow!

Milestones: Supposedly I am now in the 5th month.  That seems crazy to me!

What I look like this week:

Oh and I must tell the story that my boss's wife (who has had 3 kids) made the comment to me today that my face now looks pregnant.  She asked if I could notice the fullness in my face and I was shocked!  I don't think my face looks bigger than it did pre-pregnancy, but hey, maybe that is just me!

Chicken, Garlic, & Sundried Tomato Pasta

I am finally able to tolerate grocery shopping and cooking again (Chris and my bank account are thankful for that).  This is one of my favorite recipes.  It is kind of like a healthy alfredo that isn't nearly as bad for you.  My poor gallbladder cannot handle alfredo sauce, so this is a tasty alternative.  Let me know what you think!

Original recipe:
1 16 oz package of farfalle pasta
1/2 cup butter or margarine
3 cloves minces garlic
1/2 cup milk
1 Tbsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2 Tbsp grated romano cheese
1 can (10.75 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup
3 cooked chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, rehydrated in water

1) In a large pot with boiling, salted water, cook pasta until al dente. Drain.
2) In a large saucepan, melt butter.  Add garlic and cook until brown.  Add the cream of chicken soup & milk, stirring until smooth.  Stir in dried parsley, salt, and ground fresh pepper.  Simmer 2-3 minutes.  Add chicken & hydrated sun-dried tomatoes.  Simmer 6-8 minutes.  Mix in grated Romano cheese.
3) Toss pasta with chicken mix.

My alterations:
1) I don't use 1/2 cup of butter.  I use 2/3 of a stick instead and use more condensed soup.
2) I LOVE sun-dried tomatoes and like to have 1 with each bite.  I use a whole bag of them but I have no idea what the measurement is.
3) I only usually use 2 chicken breasts instead of 3.
4) I increase the garlic, salt, & pepper since I use more condensed cream of chicken soup.

Nutritional info (when made without my alterations):
Calories: 438
Protein: 21.5 g
Fat: 19 g
Sodium: 629 mg
Cholesterol: 68 mg
Carbs: 46.2 g
Fiber: 2.3 g

So, do you have a preference?

This is by far the question du jour for me.  For the record, yes, I do have a preference for the sex of the baby, but I will be happy either way.  Other than my husband, the only other person I remember actually telling my preference to was my eye doctor.  His wife is 3 weeks further along than I am, so we were chatting and this is the usual question that comes up.  It seemed harmless enough to discuss this with someone that I see once a year.

I kind of feel like if I say I want a boy and it ends up being a girl (or vice versa), then people will say things and I just don't want to deal with that.  I was already outspoken enough pre-pregnancy - add the hormones to that and there is no holding back!

Also, for the record (another one), Chris thinks it is a girl and I think it is a boy.  So far, everyone has guessed boy except for one friend who had a dream that I called to tell her it is a girl.  Hopefully we'll know in 2-4 weeks!

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011!!!

It's that time of year again.  Time to reflect on the past year and look forward to the next.  Since I am convinced that 2011 is going to be fantastic, I will get the bad out of my system first.

It's really only been the last couple of weeks that were really bad.  In the last 2 weeks of December, this is what was happening: 1) Our heat broke and it was very cold in FL.  There were a few days with lows in the 20s and highs in the 40s and 50s.  2)  I had a cold & a fever at the same time of having no heat.  Being sick while pregnant and not being able to take anything is no fun!  3) A very good friend was diagnosed with stage 2-3 cancer on Christmas Eve.  4)  Someone got  my debit card information and ran up $2200 in fraudulent charges at gas stations from 12.20-12.28.  I still had the card in my possession.  Also, on 11.12, we had to put my sweet 14 year old Victoria to sleep.  It was a very hard decision and I still tear up thinking about it, but I know in my heart of hearts it was the right thing to do.

Now on to the good...My photography business did really well in 2010.  I had several weddings and the majority of those were from clients who were "strangers" and not people I knew or referrals from people I knew.  I also began to do newborn and maternity photography and really enjoyed it.  I actually got to do the newborn session for the daughter of the bride and groom from my very first wedding.

In April, I faced an interesting career challenge.  I was working as a medical assistant for a physician and there was a lot of drama in the office.  I very quickly had to learn a lot in a field I was never trained in.  I also had a lot of issues with this physician, including harassment, among other things.  Thankfully in July, I became the office manager for another physician and am much happier in my current position.  It definitely still has its challenges, but hey, I'm the boss!  : )

Chris graduated in June with his B.S. in electrical engineering.  We will find out (hopefully) in February or March if he will be accepted into the Air Force as an officer.  This is something he really wants to do and would be a great thing for our family.  We have had a lot of negative feedback about this, mainly because of moving, but it is not a negative thing to me.  We are young and I have lived here my whole life!  I need a change!!!

We took a couples trip in June to Savannah and had a blast even though it was ungodly hot!  My mom, a friend, and I took a girls trip to Savannah in December and had a great time even though it was ungodly cold!  Perhaps we will get the timing right for great weather one of these times!

The biggest news of 2010 came in late October when we found out I was pregnant!  I am due on June 28th and we are obviously quite excited for what 2011 has in store for us.

2011 will be the year of a lot of firsts for us.  It will be the year we have our first child.  If Chris gets into the AF (which he is pretty confident he will), there is a good chance that we will be moving for the first time out of state.  (Well, first time for me.  I have always lived in my current area.)  I am sure I am leaving out a lot of details from 2010, but I think I covered a good portion of the highlights.

Goodbye 2010, hello 2011!

We have a heartbeat!

My first real midwife appointment was on Wednesday, Dec 1st.  I was quite anxious to hear the heartbeat b/c I had psyched myself out over hearing about chemical pregnancies, blighted ovums, etc.  The only "proof" I had that I was pregnant was the 4 positive HPTs and my morning sickness.  I was only 10 weeks and 1 day and I knew that a lot of times, it is not possible to detect a heartbeat with a doppler until 12 weeks. 

The midwife explained that my heartbeat will be in the 80s and the baby's heartbeat will be between 120 & 170.  She found mine right away and said "well, your heartbeat is in the high 90s, so you must be excited."  No kidding!  10 seconds later she moved the doppler over about an inch and there was the baby's heartbeat.  Talk about a sigh of relief!  She made the comment that she was quite surprised that she found it so fast.  Hopefully the baby will continue to be so cooperative which is only fair considering the amount of morning sickness I have suffered so far!

I guess I am an undercover crunchy/granola/whatever momma to be...

One of my SILs and I were hanging out yesterday afternoon and I learned something new.  So far, she is the only SIL (I have 4) that I have revealed my birth plan to.  As long as I remain low risk, I will be delivering at a birth center with mid-wives and would like to do a waterbirth.  This may seem crazy to some, and I am okay with that.  I just have this huge fear of hospitals and have had very serious reactions to a variety of medications, particularly Demerol & Versed, so I would like to avoid medications as much as possible.

I am not going to push my beliefs on anyone, so don't worry about that.  I think every person should do their research and go with their instinct on what they think is right for them.  Now if I become high-risk or something happens, I will obviously do whatever is best for me and/or the baby.

I also plan on breastfeeding and cloth diapering.  Gasp!  When I told my SIL that I plan on cloth diapering (CDing) she gave me a high five.  However, she told me that she was quite surprised I would go that route because I don't "seem" like the type.

I find that to be kind of funny, but at the same time, it is a good thing.  Cloth diapering sure has changed since my childhood and there are just so many options.  My mom was shocked when I showed her all the options and made the comment "what about the rubber pants?"  Yes, CDing has come a long way and is a lot easier than it used to be.

"Outing" myself...

Big news in our household....I'm pregnant!  I have known for 3 weeks tomorrow and am just too excited to contain myself.  I do ask for those of you that know me IRL or on facebook to not say anything on FB b/c only immediate family and very close friends know right now.  Of course I have to include a photo of the 3 tests (yes, I was in disbelief):

Now for the funny story, although I must first start with a backstory... We had been TTC (trying to conceive) for 4 cycles.  The Friday before I tested, C asked me if I thought this was the cycle.  I had never been so sure that my period was coming and I told him this wasn't our month.

My first 2 cycles "trying" were very odd.  I had a cortisone steroid shot in my SI joint (low back) to help with my back pain and I truly believe that the steroid made my cycles go crazy.  Cycle number 3 was super short - only 18 days and I ovulated on day 7.  Craziness!

So on Sunday, October 17th, I woke up and took my basal body temperature like I do everyday and went back to sleep.  (I temp every morning at 5:30 am and then just go back to sleep if I don't need to get up right away.)  8:30 rolls around and I decide to see what my temp was and I was expecting it to take a nose dive like it normally does as my period is about to begin.  To my shock, my temp had gone up and was higher than it had ever been.  This can be an early sign of pregnancy, so since I was 12 DPO (days past ovulation), I decided to test.

The first test I dipped was messed up and the control line did not even appear.  I figured that I must have not dipped it long enough, so I re-dipped.  Sure enough, 2 lines appeared.  Then I figured that I must have messed up the test and started with a new test.  Sure enough, 2 lines appeared again.

It is now about 8:45 am, so I decide to go wake Chris up.  (I had always thought I would do something creative to tell him, but I was too excited, shocked, and in disbelief to not tell him.)  So I go to Chris and say "I tested and there are 2 lines."  The poor guy was so confused and had absolutely no idea what I was talking about.  I told him he just need to come with me and he begrudgingly agreed.  He looked at the tests, scratched his head, and said "So does this mean we need to have sex?"  WTH?  My response was "no, we already did that and this is the result - I'm pregnant."  :)

Back to Chris's comment - one of the things I was doing while charting was using OPKs (ovulation predictors).  These things drove me batty!  I had convinced myself that there was something wrong with me b/c I NEVER got a positive OPK.  For the record, a truly positive OPK has a darker test line than a control line.  So all of those people that I see saying that they have 7 days of a positive OPK really need to read the instructions.

Well that's all for now, I'm sure there will be plenty more to come.

p.s.  My EDD is June 28, 2011.